Over the years, various types of puzzles and games have been developed for the purpose of providing amusement and entertainment, and in particular, a simple change of pace or escape from the everyday tasks, routines, and problems at hand, as well as providing different and often more interesting challenges of a less serious, but nontheless, more intriguing nature. One popular type of amusement device has been the manipulative puzzle in which various puzzle pieces are manipulated or moved about to solve or make a particular solution or object. Many of these manipulative type of puzzles have become so popular that they might even be considered contagious.
One such famous puzzle is the "15" puzzle first introduced in the 19th century, which comprises a two dimensional problem of restoring scrambled numbered pieces provided in a 4 by 4 square to their proper positions, such as in ascending or descending order. One of the latest and most recent crazes, known as the Rubik's Cube, involves a three dimensional cube puzzle which is manipulated in a manner to restore scrambled colored pieces of a 3 by 3 by 3 cube to their original or desired positions in which each face of the large cube is colored uniformly. As the individual cube segments are tied or interlocked together, the manipulations involve movement of nine cube segments at a time by rotation of a face or layer of the larger cube about its center. The solutions of either of these above types of puzzles require repeated backtracking or temporary destruction of a portion already completed in order to move on and make progress towards the ultimate solution.
Such well known and popular manipulative puzzles have provided many hours of enjoyment and entertainment to individuals, as the solutions or manners of manipulation to reach the ultimate solution are not always readily apparent, but instead require planning and foresight.
While the above-noted manipulative puzzles are two of the more well known, a large variety of other manipulative puzzles have also been developed or contemplated, some of which are discussed more fully hereinbelow. In this regard, it should be noted that with many of the manipulative types of puzzles or games which have been developed over the years, only a single or a very limited number of solutions are possible. For instance, in the Rubik's Cube type puzzle, the basic solution comprises having each of the faces of the large cube comprised of a single color, with a different colors being provided on each of the six faces. While other solutions are possible involving different patterns of the various colored subcubes, these simply involve variations on the common theme. Undoubtedly, one of the reasons for the great popularity of these types of puzzles involve the fact that, while there is only a single or limited number of solutions, the manner of reaching such solutions are virtually unlimited since the various solutions require repeated backtracking and temporary destruction of already completed portions. This is for the reason that movement of one or several of the pieces are tied together so that there are only a limited number of manners of moving the various pieces. In other words, the individual pieces are not truly individual in the sense that one can be moved and simply substituted for another; rather, movement of several pieces is required to simply change the position of a desired piece.
Other manipulative puzzles are known which are comprised of a plurality of truly individual pieces or components in which movement or reorientation of an individual piece can be accomplished without movement of each of the remaining pieces. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,795 discloses a three dimensional cube type puzzle comprised of 27 individual blocks having different colors on each of their faces. The individual cubes can then be assembled in a variety of different manners to provide a variety of different solutions, such as for example each surface of the overall large cube being of a single color, or so that particular patterns of contrasting colors are provided. This patent also discloses a stand in the form of a three sided support of sheet plastic which may also serve as a package for holding the individual blocks together during shipment and during solving of particular solutions. This patent further discloses that larger cubes comprised of greater numbers of blocks could be utilized, such as for example 64 blocks arranged in a 4 by 4 by 4 array, or 125 individual blocks or cubes arranged in a 5 by 5 by 5 array. It is also to be noted that when the large cube is assembled from 27 blocks, the number of different colors utilized is three, whereas in puzzles constructed from 64 blocks, four different colors are provided on the individual faces of the various cubes and in 125 block puzzles, five different colors are utilized. While a number of different solutions are provided in the puzzle disclosed in this patent, it will be appreciated that the number of solutions is nevertheless limited since only a very few different colors are provided. Indeed, for a 27 block puzzle, this patent teaches that only 10 different blocks are used. Furthermore, each of the different solutions which are possible are based upon the concept of matching and/or contrasting different colors to provide particular patterns in the ultimate solutions, and therefore simply involve variations of a single theme.
British Patent Specification No. 308,886 also discloses a three dimensional cube type puzzle comprised of a plurality of individual cubes in which the individual faces are colored with different colors and are also provided with letters or parts of words. The object in accordance with this reference is to construct a large cube to display messages, pictures or other objects thereon together with a contrasting color scheme in which each surface of the constructed cube displays each of the six different colors provided on the six faces of the individual cubes. It is to be appreciated that with the types of cube pieces disclosed in this reference, there is a definite predetermined relationship which must be maintained between the individual cubes when they are assembled into the larger cube in order to provide any meaningful message, picture or other object which is to be portrayed. This is due to the nature of the use of letters or combinations of letters, and the manner in which one deals with same in his language. Consequently, in aligning the individual pieces together in a certain array, a certain order between sets of letters must be maintained or one will have the feeling that the "solution" is out of order. This built-in prejudice which results from dealing with a language is one which is easily overlooked, and, as can be appreciated, is self-limiting in permitting a large variety of different solutions or arrays. Indeed, this fact that only one or a very limited number of solutions are possible is undoubtedly the reason that extra cubes are provided in the puzzle of this reference, i.e., so that several solutions can be provided.
Various types of two dimensional puzzles or games are also known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,964 discloses a two dimensional puzzle game which includes a plurality of blocks and a playing board. This reference teaches a game or puzzle wherein the blocks are placed in square arrays (i.e., having the same number of rows and columns). Numbers are provided on the faces of the individual blocks or cubes, and the game is played by placing the various blocks in different positions on the playing board so that the sum of the numbers appearing on the faces in each row and in each column and along the diagonals equals the same number. For example, in a 3 by 3 array in which nine blocks are provided having the numbers one through nine thereon, the solution contemplated in accordance with this reference is one in which the sum of the numbers appearing on the top faces of the blocks will add up to fifteen in each row, each column and along the diagonals. Consequently, it will be appreciated that in accordance with this patent, there is essentially only a single solution for satisfying the desired relationship, it being realized that the mirror images of a particular array would also satisfy the same criteria. Accordingly, once the particular solution is learned by an individual, there is no longer any challenge to solving this puzzle. In order to provide a number of different puzzles having different solutions, the playing board is designed to accommodate a number of larger size square arrays (i.e., up to nine rows and columns). Also, this patent teaches that different sets of numbers on the blocks can be used to provide sufficient solutions, although the basic concept of the rows and columns adding to the same number remains the same.
Another two dimensional type puzzle is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 490,689 which discloses a two dimensional puzzle played with a playing board or box and individual tablets each of which contain a plurality of numerical indicia and a plurality of color indicia thereon. The various tablets are assembled within the box so that the number and color indicia appearing along each edge or quadrant of the tablets will match a corresponding set of indicia on the adjacent tablet. Thus, this reference simply teaches a matching type game in which no arithmetic solutions are provided, the numbers and colors simply serving as objects to be matched. A somewhat similar puzzle which also teaches a matching type solution is shown in British Patent Specification No. 173,588.
Thus, it will be appreciated that with respect to each of the above-described puzzles, there is essentially only a limited number of solutions which are possible. Consequently, when individuals learn these limited number of solutions, the puzzle will no longer serve to entertain and amuse, or at least not to the same extent that it previously did. Furthermore, it is to be noted that even to the extent that different puzzle solutions may be provided in the puzzles of the prior art, particularly those described above, their various solutions are essentially minor variations of the same theme so that there is no different degree or level of challenge provided by the different solutions.